Best Paris Restaurants & Hangouts
Brasserie Lipp

Brasserie Lipp
151 Blvd. Saint-Germain 75006 Paris
Metro: Saint-Germain des Prés
Phone: 01 45 48 53 91
Hours: 10:00am to 1:00am daily

Hemingway hung out here, and so have Sharon Stone and Nicole Kidman…

This brasserie is a jewel of Parisian life and a registered historical monument. Rare are best Paris restaurants lists that do not mention this establishment which, in spite of its fame, holds tight to its “brasserie” identity, as originally intended by founder Leonard Lipp in 1880.

I include it on my Best Paris Restaurant list as a must-do because, more than a great place to eat, it actually qualifies as a “thing-to-do-in-Paris” in its own right.

A lot of ink has flowed about this beloved restaurant and out of it, a place where stellar novelists and philosophers the likes of Hemingway, Camus, Verlaine and Proust used to do their writing.

The who’s-who of Monsieur Lipp’s brasserie's past regulars is unmatched. Top politicians like former French presidents Jacques Chirac, George Pompidou, Valery Giscard d’Estaing, François Mitterrand; Movie stars like Gregory Peck, Gérard Depardieu and Harrison Ford have made past footsteps here awe-inspiring.

Celebrity sightings in more recent times have included Richard Gere, Sharon Stone, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and Jack Nicholson among countless others.

The original Art Deco style has been maintained throughout the remarkable run of this “modest” establishment, which still downplays any kind of rigid reservation system. You show up and wait your turn for great service and great food at a cheap price. The roasts and desserts will have you hooked. This is Paris affordable chic.